Supergirl Review by Henry Tran

Supergirl 2.09: Supergirl Lives

Written By:Andrew Kreisberg, Eric Carrasco, and Jess Kardos

Directed By:Kevin Smith

The experience
of watching Supergirl has always been different, even when it was
revealed last season to be a distant part of the DC television Universe. Yes,
it's mainly the cheerful and optimistic tone that sets it apart from Arrow and The
Flash, and that's been pinned to the show ad nauseum.
But there are also virtues to the "dark and gritty" nature of those
sister shows. Particularly Arrow. There's more weight to the events in the episodes, along
with an acute sense of danger to the heroes.

Supergirl (and Superman stories as well) is limited by the sort of outcomes
that are a result of the one-off plots the show takes on. That impression is
made in the teaser, where Supergirl stops a trio of bank robbers... who are
somehow armed with a pair of rocket launchers. While the weaponry is impressive
and it's visually dynamic to have Supergirl be temporarily stopped by a couple
of explosions, it's clear from the start that it won't really affect her. The
sequence serves only to continue the adventures of the Guardian in taking on
various criminals in National City. The Guardian storyline takes a bit of a
backseat in this episode, aside from Kara voicing her continued annoyance at
his invasion of her turf as the city's resident hero.

Instead, it opts
to showcase the various dangers that come with the involvement of a civilian
like Winn. Winn takes on a larger-than-normal role in the episode, which is
fitting with his promotion in-series (or rather, a change of jobs) from
assisting Kara in her superhero adventures to basically being the Guardian's
hidden sidekick. He has to prove himself to be much more than the DEO's tech
savant when he goes on the rescue mission to save Kara and Mon-El once they're
stuck on Maaldoria. This is much better usage of the character than in previous
episodes, but it sometimes feels like Winn is made to conveniently be the
smartest character on the show, and thus using that intelligence to come up
with the most outlandish solutions to problems that inevitably have to work
because the good guys on this show always win.

That said, the
episode is saved by the continued interaction between Kara and Mon-El. The
whole avoidance of heroism and danger concept from Mon-El is understandable,
albeit pushed a little too hard by the show, but it does benefit from
furthering the chemistry between both characters. De-powering both of them on
Maaldoria, and then building a small storyline about an alien planet that is
using kidnapped Earthlings as slave labor is supposed to be one of those plot
points in the show that demonstrates how far-reaching the world of Supergirl is. Yet, there isn't that much time devoted
to the storyline because the show has to get to the resolution as quickly as
possible.

It also has to
squeeze in the week's prominent theme, which in this case, means having to
fight for those people who can't defend themselves, even if the hero doesn't
have the very things that make them special. Kara doesn't have her powers
(until Alex conveniently provides a neat yellow sun grenade that enables the
use of those powers on Maaldoria) so much of the time, she has to put on a
brave face to hide the panic of not having a viable solution for their
collective imprisonment by Roulette and her doctor minion.

The show often
has trouble balancing each of its storylines within the space of one episode.
Sometimes, a main plot will be so engrossing or intriguing that it can carry
much of the episode. When there isn't much that is interesting in the episode,
it becomes a glaring problem that can't be compensated for. A prime example of
this is the episode's handling of Alex's growing relationship with Maggie. It
wants to advance the relationship to the next logical step, having Alex bask in
the glow of happiness at the prospect of maintaining a steady relationship with
a girlfriend. But, just as quickly as they dive into this step, a problem crops
up that has Alex rejecting Maggie outright.

There are fans
of the show out there who are ecstatic that there's an out gay relationship between
these two characters. I'm just not one of those fans, partly because the show
has gone out of its way to push the pairing to the forefront every chance they
get. The writers still haven't gotten a clear handle on this relationship, as
they've introduced yet another obstacle in it that makes it appear rocky. The
back-and-forth gets tiresome. I don't want to make it sound like I don't enjoy
this show, or nitpicking it to death most weeks. On the contrary, it's still a
likable enough show. It's just that I still wonder how ambitious the series
really is during most episodes, and it's been magnified this season because the
series has had to change networks. It shouldn't be stuck in neutral, or have
one pattern for its stories, for so long.

Our Grade:

B-

The Good:

Winn gets some much-needed attention

Kara’s lack of powers neatly highlights her internal heroism

The Bad:

The show is starting to feel formulaic, even with its earnest exploration of social topics

The writers still seem to be struggling with balance between plot threads

For all the hype, did Kevin Smith bring anything special to the table?

Henry Tran is a regular contributor of review for Critical Myth; The Critical Myth Show is heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @HenYay

Log in or Register!

Why Register? Because VOG isn't JUST a content media network - it's a game. You play the game by participating in all that VOG has to offer. Rise in the Monthly Leaderboard by participating in our live broadcasts and podcasts, contributing to the discussion in our articles, and engaging in our interactive content - finding Loot along the way!

You might even find some Loot in the first five minutes after registering...You won't know until you try, right?